Minnesota’s marijuana makeover was kicked into high gear Tuesday with a tour of a new cannabis-growing plant.

“Nine months ago, this was all farmland. It’s pretty amazing,” said Dr. Kyle Kingsley, CEO of Minnesota Medical Solutions, as he led reporters through his sleek new plant in Otsego, about 35 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

The high-tech, ultrasecurity, super-secret building is one of two marijuana factories in the state. The other is in Cottage Grove, operated by LeafLine Labs.

A year after the Legislature legalized the manufacture of marijuana-based medicines, the two companies are growing and cultivating plants, fine-tuning doses and converting their product to the more medicine-like forms the state allows because the law bans smoking the plant. Both companies say they’ll be ready to start distributing medicine July 1.

Kingsley doesn’t know how many patients will be taking it. “I would say from 2,000 to 10,000 patients, but no one really knows,” he said.

Marijuana’s public-image transition is a little awkward.

The birth of a marijuana industry — when marijuana is illegal under federal law — is somewhat weird, admitted Manny Munson-Regala, an assistant commissioner for the state Health Department.

“By federal law, this is all illegal,” said Munson-Regala, surrounded by about 4,000 marijuana plants. “It’s the manufacturers who are taking the risk.”

He said there is an understanding that anyone making or consuming it for medical purposes won’t be prosecuted. “The legal risk is low, but it is not zero,” Munson-Regala said.

That’s why the marijuana can’t be distributed at drug stores. Drug store chains have refused to take it, Munson-Regala said. So the manufacturers must set up their own distribution centers.

Because of the quasi-legality, doctors can’t prescribe it. They can only certify that a patient has a condition that can be treated with marijuana — such as certain cancers, glaucoma, AIDS, seizures and some terminal conditions.

Those patients will be listed in a statewide registry, allowing them to buy the drugs. Kingsley estimates the cost per patient will be between $300 to $500 a month.

For the tour, reporters were directed to a well-hidden steel building at the end of the gravel road. The address, they were told, is secret.

“We don’t want any gawkers,” Kingsley said.

After everyone had bathed their shoes in a sterilizing solution, the tour began.

Kingsley showed off the “casino-quality” security system that includes about 36 cameras.

Wading through a short forest of marijuana plants, he reached the incubator room. There, young plants are babied in “ebb and flow” trays in which the water runs back and forth.

As they grow, the plants are repotted into successively larger containers.

In the earlier growing stages, the growth lights are on 24 hours a day. Later, when the critical drug-containing buds come out, the lighting cycle is switched to 12 hours on and 12 off. Blackout curtains line the windows, so the 12-hour cycles can be enforced.

Kingsley showed off every scrap of science in the building.

He walked past a set of 5-foot tanks labeled nitrogen and went into the laboratory. There, chemist Conor Smith checked graph lines on a computer screen.

“This is the Supercritical CO2 Extractor,” he said, describing a device that uses harmless carbon dioxide gas to pull the oils from the marijuana buds.

Kingsley walked past one worker who was gently spooning a powder into each pot. “It’s beneficial bacteria,” he whispered.

Kingsley displayed his products — marijuana oil in pills, droppers and sprayers. He explained that the products blend two active ingredients:

— THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. This is why people smoke marijuana — to get high — but THC also has medical value as an appetite stimulant. “It’s for people at the end of life, especially for those with pancreatic cancer,” Kingsley said.

— CBD, or cannabidiol. It is used for treating seizures and is not intoxicating.

At the end of the tour, two women brushed through the THC-laden leaves to give their endorsements.

Kim Kelsey of Excelsior said her 23-year-old son suffers seizures, which started when he had encephalitis as a child. He now takes 36 pills a day.

Friends and family members are desperate, she said, to find something more effective — such as the marijuana medicines. “They all want to see something for my son,” Kelsey said.

Kathy Engstrom of Rogers said her 17-year-old son suffers frequent epileptic seizures, which other treatments have not stopped. “So many other things have failed,” Engstrom said.

She doesn’t know if the marijuana will help, but is hopeful. “Yes, we want a miracle. But who doesn’t?”

This report includes information from the Associated Press. Bob Shaw can be reached at 651-228-5433. Follow him at twitter.com/BshawPP.

ALMOST READY TO GO

Minnesota’s two medical marijuana manufacturers say they’ll be ready to start distributing medicine July 1. Their production facilities:

Bob is a 40-year veteran (yes, he is grizzled) who edited one Pulitzer Prize winner and wrote two that were nominated. He has also worked in Des Moines, Colorado Springs and Palo Alto. He writes about the suburbs, the environment, housing, religion -- anything but politics. Secret pleasures: Kayaking on the Mississippi on the way to work, doughnuts brought in by someone else. Best office prank: Piling more papers onto Fred Melo’s already trash-covered desk.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in News

FRIDLEY, Minn. (AP) — Garrison Keillor looked comfortable on the small stage as he sang Christmas lullabies, told off-color limericks and spun a tale about a lutefisk dinner at the fictitious Lake Wobegon.

NEW YORK (AP) — Penny Marshall, who indelibly starred in the top-rated sitcom "Laverne & Shirley" before becoming the trailblazing director of smash-hit big-screen comedies such as "Big" and "A League of Their Own," has died. She was 75.

The St. Paul City Council recently approved $1 million in Cultural STAR grants to 33 organizations, while tweaking eligibility and reimbursement requirements for the twice-annual awards. The rule changes are intended to help small and mid-sized arts and nonprofit groups have a better shot at scoring or even applying for funding. Funding can range from $5,000 grants to $100,000 or...

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said Tuesday it has taken the unusual step of denying denied a permit for a large hog farm proposed for Fillmore County in southeastern Minnesota because of the threat of adding to groundwater nitrate pollution in the geologically porous region. MPCA Commissioner John Linc Stine said at a news conference that he denied the general...

It was supposed to be Lanette Johnson's day off from her job at Best Buy, one she would spend with her then-4-month-old son, Logan. But that day in October 2017, Johnson's manager said her Arlington, Va., store was scheduled for an important visit from corporate. Could Johnson find someone to watch Logan and come in? The day care Logan would...